Microstrip patch antennas are desirable structures for use in wireless telecommunications, particularly in view of their compactness, conformability, and general ease of fabrication. One major disadvantage of such structures has been a narrow bandwidth. A variety of approaches have been utilized in an effort to expand the bandwidth of such structures.
For example, it is known that bandwidth can be increased by increasing the thickness of the microstrip antenna patch substrate, or by introducing parasitic elements of varying size above and/or below the driven element. The addition of parasitic elements stacked above and/or below the driven element to increase the bandwidth is less desirable in some cases because of the physical structure that is required.
It would be desirable therefore to produce a microstrip antenna structure that would provide the desired broad bandwidth without the disadvantage of having a physical structure that creates a problem respecting the ability to mount it on various support structures or becomes too large in size.